AQMW: Broken Shield
by Akitoscorpio
Summary: For as long as Tai Xiao Long could remember, he wanted to be a police officer like his father was before him. This is his story as to how he reached his goal. As well as the price he paid along the way. This story is a prequel to "A Quiet and Monochrome World" and does not require an understanding of that story to enjoy this one.
1. Chapter 1: Promises Made

**_This story contains light spoilers for "A Quiet and Monochrome world"_**

_07/30/1999…_

Tai Long sat in his comfortable lounger late at night. A couple hours ago he and his family had just arrived home from the wedding of two of his closest friends. He didn't normally drink this late at night. Or rather he didn't have more than a beer on a work night. But on this warm summer night, he was feeling contemplative. So here was with a glass of scotch in hand as he wife and daughter both slept elsewhere in the house.

Tai was a man that made a great deal of mistakes in his life, many of which he occasionally finds himself regretting often decades later. He looked over at a framed picture on his mantle over his fireplace, of him and his first and only partner in the Adams county sheriffs department..

"Here's to you Greg, lucky you didn't get to live long enough to see the mess I made of things." Tai said before he took a long drink and set the now empty scotch glass on the table next to him as he reminisced on the events that led him to this point in his life.

* * *

_06/06/1961…_

"_I could remember the day I met Summer Rose for the very first time… I was a wet behind the ears five year old. The Vietnam war was in full swing, and a lot of kids in my school at the time would talk about how they had older brothers or even fathers if their families were desperate enough to do so, fighting the good fight over there."_

"_Looking back, the day I met Summer was the day when everything that would happen later would be set in motion."_

The young Tai Long heard the sound first, someone whimpering behind a tree in the small forest grove in the outskirts of the town of Vale in Adams County Washington. The town was already old when he lived here and the recent closure of the plastics plant due to a lack of working age men caused the whole town to slip into a depression.

He didn't care about any of it. The kindergarten aged son of a half Chinese father and a fully American mother knew that somewhere around here a young girl was in distress, and Tai was nothing if not the bravest young boy anyone ever saw in this part of the world.

As he followed the sounds of the young girl whimpering he almost literally tripped over her. A young girl with dark brown hair and pretty silver eyes looked up at him with tears in her eyes as she held her knee.

"Hey, are you okay? Let me see it okay?" Tai asked the young girl sitting before him.

"My knee hurts!" the girl whined out as Tai pulled her hands away carefully revealing a nasty looking scrape.

"Oh jeez I've never seen anything like that, I might be able to carry you out so we can find a grown up!" Tai shouted with a wavering voice

"I.. I don't want to be left alone, i'm scared a coyote will smell my blood and eat me!" The smaller girl cried out.

Tai thought to himself "_Wait a second, Do we even have coyote's in this area? I guess I had better not risk it!"_ before he turned around and squatted down with his back to the young girl. "Okay then, I'll try to carry you out, my dad says I'm real though for my age!"

The young girl wiped the tears from her eyes and grabbed on to his shoulders and pulled herself up to latch on to his back. Tai was almost caught off guard by her weight and barely managed to keep from falling back on the girl. but he managed to with a groan stand up with her on his back.

The truth was though he was still five years old and the idea of carrying a girl who was close to his age on his back for a long time was something he was not physically prepared for. As he walked her out of the wooded area. He asked the girl "Hey where do you live, is it one of these houses?"

The young girl sniffled and pointed at a house down the block "I live right there!"

"Okay then, I'll get us over to your place. What's your name anyways?" Tai asked the young girl.

"Su-Summer, Summer rose" She said between tears "Wh-What's your name?"

"My name is Tai long, and I'm the toughest five year old you'll ever meet in these parts according to my dad!" Tai said as boldly as he could as he struggled one step at a time to get Summer to to her home.

Thankfully Tai didn't have to haul her all the way back to her house, someone who looked like her mother walked over with her face scrunched up in worry "My lords Summer Rose, you sure didn't make a mess of yourself, were you off in those woods again?"

Summer was still clinging on the young Tai's back "Yes Ma'am, I'm sorry."

Summers mother leaned over and looked at her knee "Well this ain't nothing, why you making this poor boy carry you back."

"I-I don't mind ma'am, I'm going to be a sheriff deputy one day like my dad, so I have to be a hero whenever I get a chance to!" Tai said with a big but obviously tired looked smile.

Summer's mother reached around and lifted her daughter off his back "Well I certainly hope you do, the world can always use more heroes, especially the way things are going, what's your name dear?"

"My Name is Tai Xiao Long, I live the next street over!" Tai said as he pointed towards his parents home.

"Summer, it seems a hero needs a reward and I have cookies and fresh lemonade waiting, how about we invite your new friends over so we can get to know him." the younger mother said to Summer.

"Yeah, okay, that sounds fun!" Summer said through sniffles.

Tai allowed himself to be led to the Rose residence to get to know his new friend for the first time that day.

* * *

_11/22/1963... _

"_To say that Summer and I became fast friends would be putting it mildly, there wasn't a day that we didn't spend hours together, either playing baseball, exploring the woods which eventually stopped feeling as scary as they once did. Or hell we even were at home watching TV the day JFK was shot…"_

Seven year old Tai and Summer say in front of the TV, their normal cartoons were canceled that day. While they were at school they got word that the president of the united states was shot in Texas.

"Jeez Louise, Tai said, I hope they catch the guy that did this." Tai said as he played around with a plastic cap gun shaped like a revolver his parents got him for his last birthday.

"Your mom looks real upset Tai" Summer said looking back as his mother sat in the kitchen talking on the phone with someone with a cigarette half burned down in her hand.

"I mean, It was the president right? Like that's a super big deal right?" Tai asked Summer

Summer thought about it "I mean, without the president who's going to run the country?"

"I don't know Summer…" Tai said as he realized just quite how large this is "I mean, has anyone shot a president before?"

Summer thought about it for a second "Lincoln? But that was like, a super long time ago right?"

Tai said proudly, "It doesn't matter, I'm sure a cop like my dad will arrest the guy and they'll lock the guy up for a billion years!"

Summer rested her head on his shoulder "I hope so, I'm glad your so brave sometimes Tai…"

Tai couldn't help but feel his cheeks heat up as the pair say there in silence for a while watching the TV.

* * *

_08/15/1966…_

"_Life really ain't fair sometimes, I know that for damn sure, Life tossed me a great friend in the form of Summer Rose, and now it was going to take me away from her. My father had just received a great opportunity, a position as a detective in the NYPD. I know now that it would be the best thing my parents could ask for as our sleepy hometown of Vale was decaying further every year."_

"_When your ten years old though your not really thinking about how half the buildings in the downtown area were half abandoned, or how your neighbors were leaving one by one, or even how your classes were getting smaller every few days."_

"_When your ten years old all your thinking about is how your leaving your best friend and everything you knew behind…"_

Jaune sat under his favorite oak tree in the forest, it was one he and Summer would sit around for hours every day. He looked up as Summer entered the woods nearby and looked straight at home "I'm sorry I'm late!"

"It's okay, I'm glad you're here." Tai said as he held up the two lunch baggies he brought with him.

As the pair sat down to eat the simple Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches Tai brought Summer asked him. "So your leaving tomorrow right?"

"Yeah I am… Dad has to be in Queens by next week Monday, and we got an apartment waiting for us there." Tai said with a clear tone of deep remorse at what he was saying, he didn't want to leave Vale any more than anyone else in his situation would.

Summer finished her sandwich. And took a drink of water before saying. "I guess I will only have one last chance for this then…"

Tai had just taken a large sip of his drink before he asked, "For what?"

Summer crawled over to him and kissed him. Tai's brain kinda shut down for a second. "Whoa, is that what that's like? He asked as Summer pulled away with a blush."

"Yeah, sorry, I kinda have been wanting to do that a bunch lately…" Summer said as she brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"No it's okay… Can I…" Tai tried to speak but failed.

"Kiss me back?" Summer asked. "Sure!"

Tai leaned in with far less confidence that Summer had and kissed her a couple times back. Both of the young kids were beat red when they were done.

They both sat in silence for a while as Tai's and Summer's hands were intertwined. Summer finally broke the silence. "Someday, can you promise me that you'll find your way back here? If you do, can we get married then?"

Tai smiled and looked at her. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do Summer, If I ever find my way back here I promise to marry you okay?"

After they finished eating they went exploring the woods one last time, this time they held hands the entire time and the air about the entire forest felt completely changed and desperate at the same time. As Tai and Summer walked they eventually ended up back at their old favorite tree.

"I guess… It's time for you to go home…" Summer said as she let go of his hand

"Yeah… I guess it is…" Tai said bitterly. They both stood and stared at each other for a while before he snapped his fingers "Wait, before we go!" He said as he pulled out his Pocket knife.

He walked over to the tree and began to carefully carve into the old oak a simple message in a heart "T.L + S.R 1966" before he stopped back. "There, now everyone who finds this tree, no matter how far from now it is, will see this."

Summer walked over and smiled at it before she kissed him. "Remember me okay?"

Tai kissed her back and said "I don't think I ever can forget you Summer!" He said with a bold grin. "I'll find a way back here okay?"

Summer smiled and turned to walk away stopping to say "Then I won't say 'Goodbye' Tai, I'm going to say 'See you later' okay?"

Tai smiled and said, "See you later Summer!" as she walked out of sight, and he began to walk back to his soon to be former home….

"_It turned out what we said that day would prove to be true, we would see each other again one day in the future, but we would be two very different people by that point…"_

* * *

**Welcome to the first chapter of the Prequel story to "A Quiet and Monochrome World" "AQMW: Broken Shield". This is a story that honestly I swear sometimes gets more discussion going on the r/Rwby discord than the actual mainline story, and it was born from the fact that the circumstances in that story that led to Tai have two kids with two mothers was far different than what happened in canon. So yeah I really wanted to get this in it's own self contained story, because frankly it's been living as a document on my hard drive since I want to say April of this year when AQMW was first starting off. **

**If your coming here from AQMW, then hi again, bet your surprised to see two chapters of this story up in a day, if your new here and like what your seeing, feel free to check out AQMW as this story does reference light spoilers from that story from time to time. This won't be a long story, I'm guessing between five in ten chapters at most... But we'll see where it goes, any longer than that and I'm going to have to rotate main story chapters in once in a while so readers of that story don't get left hanging.**

**But if your reading this, Welcome, and enjoy the stay, and if it's for the first time or anywhere between the 40th or 92nd time I've said it to you, I hope have a great day and thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2: Twin birds

_09/07/1966…. New york…._

"_You know, if I remember anything about the fifth grade, is that I hated most of the fifth grade, most of the kids at my elementary school were little shits to a new kid from the sticks like me. The only people the ragged on harder were kids that were from the reservation… we had our own Native American tribes and reservations back west, but they never were looked down on back at my old home as they were in New York. I guess that's why I didn't think to much at the time."_

"_I guess that's why maybe when it was all said and done, I got along so well with them."_

The first few days of classes were rough on Tai, He was the new kid, and he knew that being the new kid was a hard enough title to shake off on it own. But now one the fourth day of school, he found himself quite alone at school as he looked for a place to sit down and eat a gross looking school breakfast.

He damn near gave up when he heard someone yell out "New kid!". Tai turned around to see a pair of kids his age waving at him,. A young girl and boy with matching eye and hair colors. "Come on over here! We have an open seat!"

Tai was hesitant for a moment before he sat down and quietly said "Hi"

A couple quiet moments passed between the three kids. Before the Girl asked "Okay shy guy, you got a name?" The black haired girl said with a big smile.

"Uh… Yeah my name is Tai, Tai Xiao Long" He said to the girl.

"See I told you he looked part Chinese, you owe me lunch today?" The girl said to the boy.

"Well what about you, what are your names?" Tai found himself asking as he fidgeted with his hands a bit.

"Well I'm Raven and that's my brother Qrow with a Q…" The girl now known as Raven gleefully said to their new blonde half Chinese friend.

Tai grinned "Qrow with a Q?"

"Yeah, my name is spelled Q-R-O-W!" The boy known as Qrow said.

"We don't know why mom named him that." Raven said "I think it's funny."

"You would Raven, at least you don't have teachers trying to call you 'Quurow' all the time!" Qrow said with all the indignity a young elementary school child could muster.

"Yeah that's why I think it's funny Quurow" Raven said with a giggle.

Qrow sighed out "Yeah yeah…" as he leaned back in his seat.

Tai finally took the chance to speak up. "So, besides being curious about me be half Chinese, why did you two call me over"

"Well my sister thought you looked like you can use a friend, and us mixed kids need to stick together right?" Qrow said pretty bluntly.

Tai looked confused "Mixed kids? What did you mean by that?"

Raven looked uncomfortable at Qrow "Well I mean your half Chinese, and were both half Native American on our dad's side right?"

Tai blinked and leaned on the table, "Wait, that's why no one talks to me?"

Qrow chuckled "What you didn't notice that most of the white kid tables only have white kids sitting around them while us non whites are always hanging out by ourselves with our own people?"

"I never really gave it much thought, we didn't really have a problem with that back home…" Tai muttered.

"Hey we got people like Martin Luther King fighting for us right?" Qrow said boldly. "It's going to be alright! He'll fix everything I'm sure of it!"

"Hey, you want to hang out with us after school, I bet you don't know where the neat spots are yet!" Raven said loudly

"I mean sure, it beats just going straight home right?" Tai said with a big grin.

"Well we better get to class then." Qrow said as the trio walked off and started walking in the same direction.

"Wait, what class are you in?" Tai asked.

"Dude, we all have the same class… How dense are you?" Raven asked.

"I uh…. Pretty dense it turns out." Tai muttered out as the group kept walking

The twins started laughing. Not at their new friend but rather with him as Raven threw an arm around Tai's shoulder with a loud laugh before declaring "Your alright new kid!"

That day was a pretty good day for Tai.

* * *

_02/12/1971…_

"_It's really crazy to think about. That Vietnam was going on for most of my life by 71, and if I was born a few years earlier I might of been shoulder to shoulder with Alan in the jungle. But instead, by 1971, as the war was winding down. As casualties racked up almost daily to an unacceptable level, and as were by that point slowly pulling forces out of Vietnam. _

_Well no one wants to hear about the war, but I still think to this day I looked good in bell bottoms…._

Tai long walked towards his high school with his long mop of hair hanging loose down to his shoulders as he sought out two of the most important people in his life.

Hopefully two of them would stay that way in a couple hours as he took the biggest risk of his young life. The now fifteen year old Tai had been finding himself seeing his longtime friend Raven as something more than a close friend.

Tai couldn't place it to a single moment, he figured it had to do with how she started filling out here outfits, her insistence on wearing skirts everyday. The small snort when she giggled sometimes.

Tai was head over heels and wanted to give it a shot. He planned to ask her out for the big Valentines day dance in a couple days. I mean sure they all probably would have ended up there anyways, but Qrow was playing some girl he met named Lisa which led him and Raven going together by default.

Why not just make a date of it right? I mean it was just simple math after all.

Then why did his voice box suddenly freeze up when he saw her today as he met up with her at the usual spot to walk to class.

Raven caught on his his sudden bout of nerves as she walked over to him and put a hand to his forehead."You better not be getting sick, you already left me waiting this morning."

Tai half squeaked out a "Hello" when he saw raven. Tai forced himself to look her in the eyes noticing that her blouse was quite a bit lower cut than normal for her. "I'm feeling fine."

Raven leaned in brushing her chest against his. Tai could tell she didn't seem to think too much about this as she did this accidentally quite often to his mild discomfort. "Well you don't seem to be warm or sick, so what the hell is wrong with you?"

Tai took a half step back and inhaled to catch both his breath and calm his nerves. Realizing it was pointless trying to ask now he just rubbed his neck and said "Ah shit it's nothing Raven."

Raven sighed out and put a hand to her head "Oh my god in heaven!" she paused and pointed at her chest. "Tai my boobs are right here, and I'm wearing a skirt. I freaking hate skirts, you know I do."

Tai's face turned red as he followed her hand down to her cleavage. "I'm trying to get your goddamn attention so you notice I'm a woman."

"Wait…" Tai paused as the gears in his head failed to compensate for the sudden change in conversation.

"Wait for what, I've been trying to get your attention for weeks and I'm at the point of wondering if I need to set you up on a date with Qrow or something!" Raven said flustered.

Tai held his arms up with his thoughts now regathered "Wait, you've been trying to get me to ask you out?" Tai had to fight back a laugh at how stupid the situation had became.

"Just what the hell is so funny!" Raven said as a blush crept on her face and she looked off to the side "I mean it's normal right, I've known you for years now, your not hard on the eyes." Raven's blush intensified as she then said "I guess I kinda got a bit of a thing going for you alright?"

Tai forced himself to calm down so he could speak without a giggle. "No, It's not that." Tai said as he put a hand on Raven's shoulder "God dammit, I've been trying to find the right time to ask you out is all."

Raven eyes shot wide as she looked at Tai "Really?" She said with a level of excitement betrayed her feelings.

Tai laughed out in relief "Well yeah, I guess this was a bit easier than I thought it would be my head, how does the big dance on valentine's sound?"

Raven smiles "Lame, I'd rather us hang out at Al's and get high, but I'll take what I can get from a straight laced dope like you."

Tai shook his head "Hopeless as always, besides I can't join the police academy if I get busted for possession."

Raven let the comment slid as she was just too damn giddy that her scheme to show off skin till Tai noticed her finally worked. "Well, looks like we got a date to plan then mister, come on we'll talk on the way to school!" Raven said as she grabbed Tai by his hand and lead him off to school.

* * *

_I remember my first date with Raven, hell of a night. She and her brother both deserved better than what happened to them both in life. I guess looking back, knowing them was what got me through all those years in New York. I guess you can say they ended up being one of the best things that happened to me in life…_

_Damn shame I ended up being one of the worst things to happen in theirs…_

Towards the end of the night Tai and Raven snuck off to walk around the dimly lit halls of the school. Oh sure the dance was fun an all. But they had gone to dances like this since they were both in junior high and it was honestly losing its appeal for them.

"So… This is our first date huh?" Tai said with a blush on his face to Raven.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Raven said with a smirk as the moonlight shining in through the nearby windows caught her just right.

Tai felt his heart skip a beat in his chest. "So uh, this doesn't feel too much more different than any other day feels you know?"

Raven took his hand into hers "Does it have to?" she said before kissing him on the cheek.

Tai smiled as he looked at her "I guess not." As he leaned in close to her to kiss her.

Raven giggled as she met him halfway,

Tai would later recall that the first kiss he and Raven shared was intense, it wasn't like the chaste and almost innocent first kiss he had with Summer years before, in one of the few times he thought about Summer. There was a "wanting" and "hunger" in the way they attacked each others mouths with their own. It wouldn't be until minutes later when they pulled back from each other did they realize that being a couple did feel a lot different than it did as just being friends.

"Okay, I think I can get used to that one." Raven said with a blush. "Kinda glad I embarrassed myself trying to get you to notice me now."

Tai smiled and laughed still having his arms around Raven in a way that felt just right. While neither of them were quite ready to drop the "L word" after on date, both were pretty happy with how the evening was going.

"We better get back before someone sends a teacher looking for us." Tai said softly.

"Well we can't have the moral beacon of the school get caught with a delinquent like me right?" Raven said with a clearly fake pout on her face.

"Well they do say opposites attract right?" Tai said with a smile as he led Raven hand in hand back to the dance.

"I guess they do." Raven said with a laugh as they both walked off towards to finish dancing the night away.

* * *

**I've never been the biggest fan of making huge time skips, but this is supposed to be a side story, and large skips are kinda unavoidable unless I wanted to turn this into another 40+ chapter tale like my other two main fic are. This chapter was a bit of a thing to write as it was a busy week for me over all hence why the last thing i've written was over a week ago. **

**Just as a reminder, this is a back story fic, the main story this is building on can be found in my profile and people keep telling me it's a fun read, so I hope if you never had read it before, you take the time to give it a look. either way, thanks again for reading, and I hope you have a great day,**


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